


Second Life

by hoshatree (marchmain)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Coming of Age, Friendship, M/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-07-24 04:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7493427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marchmain/pseuds/hoshatree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten comes to Korea to work for the company whose technology saved his life. He meets Taeyong, who while very different, displays thoughts and experiences with Ten that are unnaturally linked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ten Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul

Ten was sitting alone in the common room when he heard the careful steps of Teacher on the stairs. He sat up quickly, put his slippers on and smiled warmly as Teacher pushed through the door.

"Here by yourself?" Teacher asked.

Ten nodded.

He sat patiently in the armchair as Teacher cooked dinner in the small kitchenette. As he cooked, he exchanged a few words of small talk with Ten, speaking slowly and clearly so that Ten could understand him, and Ten replied shyly. If he pronounced something wrong, Teacher would correct him.

"You're improving a lot," he said. "You should try talking with the friends sometime."

They sat down across from each other on the small wooden table to eat. This was how they ate most nights. Ten felt a pang of affection for Teacher, mixed with regret. The others would think that Teacher favoritised him, but Teacher had to take care of him because he was new here, and he didn't know the language well. It was hard to talk with the others.

Teacher mumbled as they ate. "I don't suppose... ah, I shouldn't say it like this. How is your relationship with the others? Do you like them?"

Ten paused to contemplate it. He liked them well enough, and it never occurred to him that they might not like him. When he came out in the morning, Taeil would always smile at him, before quickly looking away. He thought Taeil seemed nice. But they had never spoken.

"I think... we will become good friends once I have learned to speak Korean well."

Teacher nodded. "That's good."

Ten ate to fill his stomach, but somehow his appetite was lost. He found this still happened from time to time, ever since the operation. He put down his spoon and looked over Teacher's shoulder, back towards the window where the city lights were glowing from behind the trees. He wondered where the others had gone and what they were doing.

Teacher interrupted his thoughts. "What do you think about Lee Taeyong?"

Ten frowned. He didn't have any strong thoughts on Lee Taeyong. He was just one of the others. He laughed. "I don't know. I don't really know him."

Teacher nodded as he awkwardly pushed his glasses back. "I thought that maybe I would put you in his room. You can swap with Taeil."

Ten nodded. "That's okay."

Up until that point he had been sharing the room with Teacher, which was uncomfortably stifling at times. He liked Teacher, but more than anything, he wanted to get along with the others.

"Make sure you keep an eye on him."

Ten was startled. "What?"

"It's nothing serious but it would be helpful if you could keep track of him. You should try to get to know him better when your speaking improves." Ten still looked confused, so Teacher added: "Lee Taeyong has been a troublemaker in the past."

After dinner Ten returned to gazing out of the window. The lights of Seoul twinkled mysteriously through the branches of a zelkova tree growing out of the pavement below. On the street two friends were walking together with backpacks and linked arms. Ten's eyes followed them until they were out of sight.

Teacher, sensing his restless boredom, called out to him: "I have to go out again. Why don't you come with me?"

* * *

Teacher (his real name Kim Jonghyun) had been working at the Company for a long time. Long enough to remember the glory days, back when the Company was number one in android design and production, and then the fall, when androids were banned after the Company was subject to waves of public outrage. Back then it seemed as though they would fold altogether let alone return to their former heights.

The Company had survived due to a technicality: androids themselves had been banned, but android technology in other manifestations had not. So what if android technology could be used on real people? In his diary nine years ago, Jonghyun had written:

_To bring people back from the dead is too much. But what if a person was gravely ill - close to death? Is it possible to engineer android parts to revive them?  
Then the result would be - not an android. But not exactly human either..._

Jonghyun had been one of the leaders of the project right at its inception, and had worked through all the theories and developments. And now, to think he was at the stage where he was actually living with the subjects!

As they walked out onto the street, Jonghyun held Ten by the elbow to protect him from a speeding motorcycle. He had to try to stop thinking of them as subjects - they _were_ human after all.

And he liked all of the kids, but at the same time felt a distant pity for them. Particularly Ten, who had been forced to come here from a foreign country. But such is the reality of life; if the Company saves you from death they don't do it for free.

He took Ten to the end of the street to let him choose fruits to bring back for the others. Ten took a long time to decide, examining and smelling each one with childlike awe and pleasure. In the end he chose strawberries and oranges.

* * *

Ten stayed up that night by himself in the common room. He put the television on and it filled the room with a distant chatter he couldn't understand, but now the room felt warm and alive. It was better than silence.

He absently flicked through sites on his phone, his feet up on the seat. At around midnight he heard the door being pushed open and he looked up in anticipation.

Doyoung and Jaehyun came in first, kicking off their shoes and talking rapidly with one another. A minute later, Taeil came in, looking a little pink in the cheeks. Ten watched them with interest, although they all seemed to ignore his presence. They tip-toed through the kitchen, talking softly.

Ten was still waiting for one more to come in - where was Taeyong? More minutes passed and it seemed increasingly likely that Taeyong was not with them.

Somewhat disappointed, Ten looked back at the television. A fat man in a lycra suit was standing in the centre of a stage, yelling a stream of words as the audience screamed with laughter. Ten laughed too. He didn't understand the joke, but something about the man's pink face was so hilarious. Jaehyun came to sit beside him and Ten swallowed his laughter.

After a few seconds, Jaehyun whispered to him.

"Can you understand it?" he asked in English.

Jaehyun's clear English was surprising to Ten. "I didn't know you spoke English," he said, impressed, but also confused (why had Jaehyun never spoken to him before?).

Jaehyun nodded solemnly. "I lived in America for four years."

"That's great. You speak well."

Jaehyun seemed pleased by the compliment. He held his chin up. "So do you. Have you been there?"

"No... I haven't."

Jaehyun looked as though he would go to bed soon, since Doyoung and Taeil had already gone, but Ten was excited by this opportunity. He wanted to talk more.

"Where is your other friend? Taeyong?"

"I don't know," Jaehyun said. He seemed tired and bored. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason. I thought he went out with you."

Jaehyun shook his head slowly. "He didn't come with us. He never does."

"Where does he go?"

"Eh? I have no idea."

The conversation was going nowhere so Ten looked back at the television. There were now two men in Lycra suits on the stage, berating each other. He laughed at the sight of them.

Jaehyun watched his laugh with a curious smile. "Can you understand them?" he asked again.

"No, not really," Ten admitted.

"Then... why are you laughing?"

Ten paused. He didn't know how to answer, so he laughed again.

* * *

That night Ten took his bundle of clothes to the room at the end of the hallway - the one he had switched with Taeil. He pushed the door open gently, and was immediately hit by the distinctive scent of lemon. For a second it reminded him of the hospital room that he had hated so much, and he paused by the half open door, suddenly reluctant to go inside. His fear was lifted as he peered further into the room and he could see that his roommate was there, fast asleep in his bed. He raked his memory, but he could not recall ever seeing Taeyong come home. Perhaps he had never left and he had been there all along? Perhaps he had crawled through the window. Ten tip-toed apologetically towards his bed.

Owing to either the unusual fragrance or the new room, Ten had an unpleasant night. He struggled to fall asleep, and when he did sleep he would wake up again easily. In particular he was haunted by one nightmare. He dreamt he was on the edge of a diving board, very high up and below there was a large swimming pool and people crowded around the sides. He was overcome by fear, somehow knowing that to jump from the diving board was a terrible idea and that it would probably kill him. When he tried to step backwards, an unknown force pushed him forward, right to the edge. Desperately trying to keep his balance, he was finally toppled over and he fell a long way into the water. Suffocated and trapped, he woke up heaving.

Early morning sunlight was falling through the curtain. Taeyong was awake, already dressed and carefully making his bed. He shot a quick glare at Ten, as though the sound of Ten's breathing had interrupted his thoughts.

Still reeling from the nightmare, Ten stared at Taeyong. The swimming pool and all those spectators were gone and it was only them in the little room. Taeyong's eyes were so large and it was unnerving the way they drilled into him. Ten had only just realised that he was staring back.

"Good morning," he said awkwardly.

Taeyong turned around and continue to arrange his pillow. "Good morning," he repeated, slowly and clearly.

It sounded as though Taeyong was trying to correct his pronunciation, so Ten repeated the phrase again, smiling.

"You say it weirdly," Taeyong muttered, and Ten's smile disappeared.


	2. The Kindness of Taeil

That night Taeyong went out again and Ten followed him.

He wanted to attempt to speak with him again, but this was difficult since Taeyong was elusive and unfriendly, and he left the house so quickly without saying anything. Ten saw the back of his blue jacket and he chased after it without thinking.

He clumsily hopped down the stairwell, and then out onto the night street. If keeping track of Taeyong wasn't hard enough, he was distracted by the commotion of the street - with all its bright lights and windy alleys how could he possibly keep track of Taeyong and find his way home?

A band was playing rock music at one intersection, and a crowd of people had gathered to watch them. Somewhere in this crowd Taeyong disappeared. Ten stayed to watch the band.

They played an upbeat song, and when it was finished the lead singer spoke into a microphone. His words were muffled and indecipherable to Ten, so he lost concentration, and only then did he remember how he was meant to be following Taeyong. He laughed to himself - it was a useless exercise. It seemed as though he was dumbly following Teacher's instructions, but he couldn't see any point in it anymore. He would be better off going back home, and waiting in their room until Taeyong returned. He naively imagined that he could just ask Taeyong where he went and what he had done.

Ten started on his way home, but he couldn't remember which street he had taken to get to this place. He remembered seeing a convenience store on the corner, but there was a convenience store on every street. He walked slowly, as though in a dream. There was a rustle in the bags of rubbish on the corner, and he saw a rat rush out. It paused under the lights, and did not flinch when Ten approached.

Ten chuckled softly. "Hey Rat, you know these streets - help me get home."

* * *

Taeil was standing outside the house when he saw Ten coming. It looked as though Ten was talking to someone, although no one was beside him. Taeil squinted harder. He wondered what the others would think if he told them he had seen the foreigner talking to rats. Wonder as he might, he knew he wouldn't tell anyone. Taeil never felt particularly inclined to gossip.

Ten seemed happy, even relieved, to see him.

"Did you eat?" Taeil asked.

"Uh, no. Not yet."

"Let's go inside."

Ten smiled wide, and Taeil felt a little guilty that he had never asked Ten to eat with him before. It was only after Teacher had told them quietly the other day that they needed to be more talkative towards Ten that he considered it. It was shameful really. As the eldest one, he should have taken more initiative.

They ate together peacefully and did not say much. Taeil was conscious that Ten did not know much Korean. _But I know no Thai words_ , he thought. _And English, maybe Ten knows English - but I don't know much of that either._ He felt a sudden surge of empathy for Ten, as though he was imagining they were sitting together in a country where he too was foreign. But he had never been overseas.

"I want to show you something," he said once they had finished. "It's an app for your phone. Do you know this one?"

He picked up Ten's phone to show him.

"You can meet people with it. Meet friends."

Ten looked at it with interest. "Oh, like a dating app?"

Taeil laughed with embarrassment. "You can use it for that if you want. But you can also use it to meet people from your own country. I thought... in case you were lonely."

Ten smiled warmly. "Thank you."

* * *

Ten spent the rest of the evening following Taeil's suggestion. It seemed as though Seoul was full of lonely people; he browsed through endless posts about people looking to meet up, make friends, have dates. However, there were very few lonely Thai people. After searching for an hour, Ten found one girl who lived in Suwon, a satellite city an hour's train ride away.

He put the phone down sighing, but then he thought of another idea. Perhaps he could meet a local who knew English, someone who could talk to him and help him with his Korean. He smiled to himself as he continued browsing. And maybe that someone could be... _attractive. And fun!_ He continued browsing the profiles cheerfully.

Checking the clock, he saw that it was almost midnight. He had almost forgotten about his earlier adventure, and how he had wanted to meet with Taeyong. He had been sitting by himself in the bedroom the whole time, so Taeyong must not have returned.

He peered around the room, which was dark except for the blue light of his phone. There seemed to be the shape of a person in Taeyong's bed. Ten squinted harder, and he saw that Taeyong was indeed there, seemingly fast asleep.

Ten was stunned. He had been in the room the whole time and Taeyong had come in without him noticing. It was impossible...

* * *

In the morning Doyoung was cutting oranges in the kitchen.

"Don't do that," Taeyong said, and Doyoung looked at him with a blank expression.

"Don't do what?"

"Don't cut oranges on the table, you'll make a mess."

"I won't make a mess," Doyoung replied matter of factly, "and if I do I'll clean it up."

"No you won't, I always have to clean up for you."

Ten was sitting at the table with Jaehyun, watching them bicker with each other. When Teacher came in, they went quiet.

"Is something the matter?" Teacher asked kindly. "I thought I heard arguing."

"Doyoung was making a mess in the kitchen," Taeyong said, like a petulant child dobbing in a school friend.

Doyoung turned towards Teacher with his head lowered. "We're weren't arguing teacher," he said. "Taeyong was giving me advice about being tidy. He likes tidiness, and he is always giving me this sort of advice. I'm always learning from him."

Jonghyun smiled fondly on Doyoung (Doyoung was so easily his favourite of the kids - _so clever, so moral, so dependable!_ ) He said to both of them, "It's good to be able to take advice and criticism and make yourself better. It's a mark of humility."

He left the room not long after. Doyoung and Taeyong stared at each other like two cats in an alleyway.

* * *

That morning they walked to their class together. It was unusual for Ten to join them, since he was normally sent away to study Korean on his own. On this day he was joining in for their physical training course.

Ten enjoyed being able to mingle in with the group and listen to bits of their conversation, even if he couldn't understand all of it. As he learned more of the language, they would become clearer to him, like a lens being adjusted on a microscope. For now he knew them as: authoritative Doyoung with his high forehead and slanted eyes, amicable Jaehyun with his vacant looks, kind Taeil with his submissive and apologetic smile...

As they walked, he noticed the way that Doyoung would lead the way and Jaehyun would follow closely behind them. Taeil fell in alongside Teacher in the middle and Taeyong would linger at the back. Ten walked beside him, but he felt as though Taeyong did not particularly want his company. They didn't speak, in any case.

There was no language barrier required to do physical tasks, so Ten felt as though he was included for once. The mood between them became less awkward. Since Ten had previously been in a state of bad health, he was excited to do physically activities again, even if they started out small. It had never stopped being surreal to Ten, the way his body had been repaired so seamlessly - and yet there was something different about it, and he did not feel the same he had been before he had fallen ill. A long time ago he had read a story about the recipient of an organ donation experiencing the memories and thoughts of their donor - and he had thought about it again recently in a sickly way, feeling as though his body was no longer entirely his own. He would have liked to talk about this peculiar experience with the others, because he was desperately curious about whether they had experienced it the same. He only wished it was easier to talk to them.

After class, Ten kept walking beside Taeyong, who was now in a better mood, although he would occasionally throw dark glances at Doyoung, especially whenever Doyoung and Jaehyun spoke quietly together. After the days events Ten had come to realise that they were not all the best of friends as he had imagined. He had no interest in poking his nose into it - whatever their problems were, it was their own business. He was only interested in Taeyong to the extent Teacher had asked of him. For this reason he stuck close to Taeyong's side.

Taeyong, who by now was used to solitude, found this annoying.

"Why are you watching me?" he asked as they returned to their room after class.

In a way Ten wanted to explain it, to ask him what he had been doing, and how he had returned to the room so quietly the night before, but he lacked the vocabulary, so he could only smile apologetically, and look down at his phone.

Taeyong stayed in the room that night, and Ten did too. They were never out of each others' sight.

Ten was continuing his mission with the friend meeting app. By now he had put up a profile and made a few contacts. His profile, written in a mottled mix of Korean and English asked for people who would help him with his language skills. He added, "also looking for someone who can have some fun with me ;)." His advertisement had lead him to meeting a few people his own age, mostly university students.

He was sending messages back and forth with a guy who had a cute profile picture and claimed to be an engineering student. Taeyong, who had been busy reading his book, looked up and must have noticed the excited smile on Ten's face.

"What are you doing?" he asked, out of the blue.

Ten looked up. "Learning Korean," he said proudly.

Taeyong put down his book and stood up. He walked over to Ten and then patted the bed.

" _Chimdae_ ," he said. "Bed."

Ten laughed when he realised what Taeyong was doing. "Bed, I know it."

Taeyong looked around. He pointed to more things. "Ceiling, chair, fan..." He pointed to his nose. "Nose, eyes, mouth, hair... arm..."

Ten repeated each word obediently, even though he had already learned most of them. He was enjoying the way Taeyong seemed so serious in his teaching.

"Leg... foot..."

Taeyong was running out of things to name so Ten laughed and pointed at his crotch. " _Jaji._ "

Taeyong glared and Ten held back his laughter. "You're dirty," he said, "and you know more Korean words than I thought..."

Taeyong returned to reading his book, grumpy as though Ten had somehow beat him at his game. Ten tried to compensate. "Thank you for your help," he said, but Taeyong did not reply.


	3. A Smart Guy

_Three months later_

Ten woke up breathless. In his dream he had been drowning, the same unpleasant dream he always had. Every time he would be standing at the top of a diving board and some unknown force would push him into the water. Underwater, it was impossible for him to move and he thrashed about until he finally woke up, breathing heavily and damp with sweat.

By now it was morning already, and Taeyong was tidying his bed. He was fastidiously tidy, and he had a habit of making his bed before organising his clothes out onto it. Ten didn't know why he bothered to lay them out so neatly when they would only be there for a few minutes before he changed into them.

Ten watched him silently, still reeling from the dream. He hated that dream so much, and he always thought that he liked swimming. He had never been frightened on a diving board, but in the dream he was totally overcome by terror.

The more morning light touched his eyes, the more the dream felt distant to Ten. In a few hours he would forget about it completely, only until it came to him again.

If Taeyong caught him staring like this, he would nag him to get up and get ready, so he slowly began to pull himself up from the bed. Sure enough, Taeyong noticed him.

" _Sawadeekrab_..." he said suddenly, and Ten looked at him with surprise.

"What did you say?"

Taeyong cleared his throat and said it again. " _Sawadeekrab_..."

Ten laughed and Taeyong looked embarrassed. Ten hadn't meant to make him embarrassed, and he was actually a little touched by the greeting.

"You have to say it with a smile," Ten told him cheerfully. "Thai people are always smiling."

Taeyong looked annoyed, but at the same time determined. He put his hands together and made a very brief smile as he repeated the phrase. The sight was hilarious to Ten. Taeyong wasn't the sort of person to smile very often, so maybe that had not been the best advice.

"Is it right?" Taeyong asked, sounding eager for some assurance.

"Yes," Ten said smiling, and then added teasingly, "but you say it _weirdly._ "

* * *

That night Ten ate noodles at a small restaurant. It was a warm evening in June, and he had good company.

"You're getting so much better at Korean now."

"All thanks to you," Ten replied, smiling at the guy who was sitting across from him. To be fair that was only partially true; Ten had met with many people on the app, but Johnny was the only one he had met multiple times. Somehow Johnny felt more comfortable than the others - talking with him felt so easy since they were full of similarities. They liked the same games, the same music, laughed at the same jokes.

And he was even handsome under fluorescent lights, Ten thought, as he paused from eating to appreciate the sight. Johnny had a friendly, heart shaped face.

"I know it isn't easy," Johnny continued. "I had to learn Korean too when I came here. Although, it was easier for me since my family's Korean, and I spoke a bit as a kid."

"Why did you decide to come back?"

"For study. I won a scholarship with this company to study at SNU."

Ten was impressed. "Ah, smart too!"

"I'm interested in you though." Johnny's eyes fixed on Ten's face and Ten felt unusually shy. "It's natural for me to come back when I have family here, but you - why did you decide to come here?"

"I didn't decide, I had to come," Ten replied automatically. As he looked into his bowl he had a sudden memory of his mother at the airport on the day that he left, her face swollen from crying. "I didn't want to come," he repeated softly.

"Now you've got me even more curious. Tell me!"

Johnny was smiling, so Ten smiled too.

"You won't believe me. It's a weird reason."

"Well now you've gotta tell me!"

"Okay." Ten pushed his bowl to one side and laced his fingers together. "When I was in high school I got leukemia. My grandparents had a lot of money so they did everything that was possible for me. I was sent to all the best specialists and they moved me to the best hospital in Bangkok, but in the end the doctors said that there was nothing they could do. The cancer was too aggressive and I got worse every day. Everybody thought I was going to die."

At this point he looked up and saw that Johnny's face had become solemn and dark. He hadn't meant to make Johnny sad with his story. "Cheer up," he said, laughing. "I'm not dead now, am I?"

"Yeah, but what happened? Even the doctors thought you were going to die?"

"Yeah, they were pretty much out of options. But my grandmother found one last option and it was to do with this company in Korea. By this stage I was too ill to travel, so these scientists flew out to Thailand to meet me. It was only because my family paid them to, but they were happy to carry out the operation. Or "project" they called it. They said they could fix me, and make me healthy again, but if they did I would need to go to Korea to work for them. So here I am."

Ten wasn't sure if it was the fluorescent lights, but Johnny had turned a pale shade of green. Ten wanted to cheer him up again, so he he patted his hand and said, "but I thought you wouldn't believe me. Do you believe me?"

"That's crazy..."

"Do you think I'm lying?"

"No, it's not that. It's just... I've never met one of the project kids before."

This time it was Ten's turn to feel shocked. "What did you call me?"

"Project kids. I mean, that's just how people refer to you guys at the Company. Not that anyone ever talks to me about this stuff, I'm just a student."

"You mean the company that brought me here is the same company that gave you the scholarship?"

Johnny lowered his voice. "It seems so. But we shouldn't talk about it out loud. Let's go somewhere more private."

When they were outside on the street, Johnny wrapped his arm around Ten and pulled his head in close.

"Is it really that secret?" Ten asked him.

"Kinda. But I wanted to go somewhere private with you anyway."

Ten smiled to himself. Most of the guys he met on the app had propositioned him on the first date, but he had been meeting Johnny for weeks and there had been nothing so far. He was starting to wonder if perhaps Johnny was only interested in friendship, but tonight he had a good feeling about the way Johnny was tugging at his waist.

They went to a bath house - not the most private place, but it was good enough and they were planning on going there anyway. In the locker room Ten kissed Johnny on the mouth. He started to part his lips, but Johnny pulled away.

Ten looked over his shoulder, but there was no one around. "What's the matter?"

"You're game, aren't you?"

"Sure I'm game!" He lowered his voice to a whisper. " _I was dying and now I'm alive_ \- I want to do everything, eat everything, try everything, fuck everything." He laughed and he thought that Johnny would laugh too, but he only smiled slightly.

Ten bit his lip. Somehow Johnny had changed towards him ever since he revealed he was a "project kid".

"Do you like me?" Ten asked, sounding more desperate than he meant to.

Johnny seemed to warm up again. "Yeah, I do. I really like you. But there's no rush - you're not dying anymore, right? Let's take it easy."

"Yeah... okay."

They put their clothes in the lockers and went to the shower. Johnny touched Ten on the shoulder. "Is it alright if I look at you?" he asked, and Ten couldn't help but smile.

"You wanna play now, huh?"

"No, it's not that... I'm just curious."

He turned Ten around, and gently ran two fingers down his back and side. Ten shivered. He wondered if he should feel offended that Johnny was treating him like some kind of scientific exhibit, but he couldn't bring himself to feel anything other than excited.

"Is it disgusting to you?" he asked.

"No way, I think it's amazing. Your body is so perfect and healthy."

"I'm flattered."

Ten hoped that Johnny would touch him more, but there were people around now so they broke apart.

They spent the night sitting together on the floor of the bath house exchanging conversation, mostly in English, since Ten had become fatigued by Korean. Johnny seemed more open to talking about the company in English, since somehow it felt as though less people would eavesdrop.

"Have you ever met the CEO?" Johnny asked.

"No, never. The only person I know is Teacher Kim. Have you?"

Johnny nodded solemnly. "Just once. When I had my presentation."

"Was he scary?"

Johnny thought about that for a moment, and then replied. "She. Female CEO."

That didn't answer the question, but Ten decided to leave it. He sat up and crossed his legs in a different position, but it was impossible to sit comfortably. He still had an erection from Johnny touching him in the shower, and now he would get no satisfaction. Still, he considered himself lucky that Johnny was still with him. The wait would be worth it.

"I guess I don't really know much about the Company myself," Johnny continued. "I'm just a student, but when I finish I have to work for them. I guess we are in the same boat. Do you know what sort of work they want you to do for them after your training?"

"No, I don't really know."

Johnny chuckled. "How can you not know? You came all the way to Korea to do this and you don't even know what it is?"

Ten shook his head. "I didn't have a choice, remember? So whatever it is I have to accept it, so the what's the point in me knowing?"

"What sort of training to they make you do?"

"Mostly language for my part, but there are also strategies, problem solving and sport."

"What do you think it's for then?"

Ten smiled. "We're gonna be secret agents probably."

He had meant it as a joke, but Johnny nodded.

"So you do you know then? Have you heard stuff?"

"I've heard stuff, but I wouldn't trust any of it. I get the impression the project kids are supposed to be a better edition of the old androids, and they did all sorts of stuff."

"Androids, huh? Am I an android now?"

"No, no. Androids got outlawed a few years ago. I guess you missed all of that controversy. There was such a big public backlash that the Company had to put all the androids down, although rumour has it there are some still out there. People didn't like the idea of the company making artificial intelligence, so they worked their way around it by using the android technology on real people."

"So you think it's a good thing?"

"The science behind it is _amazing_." He paused, and looked at Ten, suddenly realising it wasn't a good idea to sound so enthusiastic. "Sorry, I really shouldn't be talking like this to you. It's your life, isn't it?"

"That's okay. I guess it's pretty cool."

"Of course it's cool!" He smiled and patted Ten's knee. "It's why you're still alive."

Ten watched Johnny fondly as he talked, but his eyes drifted off as someone walked past. He squinted at the familiar person. _Ah, could it really be...?_

Johnny noticed Ten's change of attention, and he turned around.

"What is it?"

"I know that guy. He lives at my house."

"You mean he's another project kid?"

"Yeah, he's called Lee Taeyong. I'm surprised to see him here actually, he always goes out so secretly."

Johnny leaned down to see him better. "Ah, so that's the famous Lee Taeyong!"

"Famous?"

" _Infamous_ , more like it. There was so much controversy about him in the Company, so naturally some gossip spread through to the interns and students. The rumour is that he's a relative of one of the top company scientists, so that's why he was picked for the project. Either that, or his family has some serious money."

"Well... I was picked for my family's money."

"Yeah, but you're a normal, nice guy. The company normally wouldn't touch a guy like Lee Taeyong because he was basically an _iljin_."

" _Iljin?_ "

"It means bully, delinquent." Johnny chuckled. "From what I've heard it's nothing too serious - some shoplifting, minor assaults, the usual petty _iljin_ stuff. But seriously, it's so bad for the company's image. After the whole android scandal, I mean, they weren't exactly popular. One of Lee Taeyong's old classmates wrote a rant about him online and the company paid them to delete everything."

"Really, it's that serious?"

"Reputation is very serious thing here."

Taeyong was out of sight now, but Ten knew that he would still be around. "I don't know, it seems weird. If he wasn't chosen for the project, he would be dead right? It's like saying you would prefer him dead."

"It's not much about wanting someone dead, more like, whether you interfere with nature's course. I dunno, it's complicated stuff. I don't know the guy anyway, what's he like?"

Ten chuckled. "Ah, he's kind of weird to be honest. He cleans things obsessively and he always sprays disinfectant in our room. He starts fights with the others all the time, and he can be really cold..." Ten trailed off as he remembered, almost guiltily, how Taeyong had clumsily tried to speak to him in Thai. "But apart from all that I guess he's okay."

"Did he come here alone?"

"Seems to have."

Later, Johnny walked with Ten until they were outside the bath house. Ten asked him to wait.

"You can go ahead without me," he said. "I think I should wait here so I can walk back with Taeyong."

Johnny raised his eyebrows. "You really want to meet him? You didn't even wave when you saw him."

Ten shrugged. "He's a bit hard to talk to. If I see him tonight, it might make things easier."

"Sure, whatever you say." Johnny started to walk down the small street. He spun around and held up his hand. "I'll call you later."

"I'll miss you!" Ten called out jokingly, and when he turned back he saw Taeyong out of the corner of his eye. Taeyong had already started walking home, so Ten ran to catch up with him.

"Hey, is it alright if I walk with you?" he asked cheerfully.

Taeyong gave him an unhappy glance. "Nobody can stop you."

This cold greeting did not deter Ten from speaking more. "It was funny seeing you here tonight, I never ever see you when you go out. It's a mystery to everyone at the house, you know."

"So you've been following me? You want to know where I go?"

Ten paused. He couldn't tell if Taeyong was talking jokingly or not. He didn't reply, so they kept walking in silence. After a minute, it was Taeyong who spoke.

"Your speaking is a bit better these days."

"Thank you!" Ten beamed. It seemed a special thing, to receive a compliment from Taeyong, who was always so full of criticisms.

"Who was that boy you were talking to?"

"Just a friend. He's been helping me with Korean."

Taeyong nodded. "Why did you need someone to help you? You could have just spoken to the guys at the house."

"I guess so... but... it's fun to meet new people. I feel comfortable with Johnny because he knows English too."

"Jya...ni?" Taeyong repeated the name with a kind of contempt. "He's a _gyopo_ friend?"

Ten laughed. "I don't know what _gyopo_ means."

Taeyong did not bother to enlighten him to the meaning. He just shrugged and continued walking. Since they had broken the ice somewhat, Ten wanted to try his luck.

"So what were you doing out tonight?"

"What were you doing out tonight? Weren't we doing the same thing?"

"Having a bath?"

Taeyong nodded. "Yes. It's just where you go when you need to relax."

"Fair enough. You didn't meet anyone?"

Taeyong shot him an angry glare. "You ask so many questions. It's none of your business."

As they were turning the last corner before their street, a small grey cat jumped out in front of them. Taeyong paused to watch it scutter away.

"There are so many stray animals around here..." he mumbled.

Without thinking, Ten replied. "It's not a stray. The cat belongs to the old lady who runs the fruit and veg stall on the corner."

"Oh, you've seen it before? You saw it with the old lady."

Ten scratched his head. "No, I haven't." He wanted to say, _the cat told me this_ , but that didn't make any sense, not even to him. But how else did he know this? In stead of trying to explain this to Taeyong, he told a lie. "I just made that up. It's probably a stray."

Taeyong stared at him weirdly, so he laughed.

"Let's hurry up and go to bed. We don't want to get in trouble."

Ten nodded dumbly and followed.

As they went to their room and got undressed, Ten decided that maybe it would be best to venture another question to Taeyong. He was hopelessly curious about all the things Johnny had mentioned to him that night. The androids, the weird technology, Taeyong's scandalous past.

"Do you ever feel that you changed after the operation?" Ten asked softly. He didn't know the Korean word for operation, so he said it in English and it took a few seconds for Taeyong to understand him.

Taeyong nodded. "Of course it's different. Don't you think so?"

"Well, it's very different for me. I was sick for two years, and now I'm not sick anymore." He almost came close to telling Taeyong about how he could sometimes hear the thoughts of animals - the stray cats and rats, but this sounded so ridiculous he thought Taeyong would not believe him. As an afterthought, he considered his recurring nightmare of the swimming pool, which even thinking about caused nausea. "I keep having nightmares."

"Yes, me too," Taeyong replied tersely. He reached over to switch off the ceiling light. "Let's just go to sleep now, okay?"


	4. The Movie Night

After a week of training (that mostly consisted of running in circles around the oval, and solving puzzles when they were inside) Doyoung announced that they would spend Saturday night at the movies.

It wasn't planned. Doyoung stood up in the common room on Saturday afternoon, and hitting Jaehyun lightly on the back of the head, he said, "let's go to the movies." They were all in earshot at the time so they were all invited, and even Taeyong came along, despite the fact he usually snubbed group activities.

With the five of them together, it was their first time going out as a group for a purely social reason.

Jaehyun was cheerful as they made their way down the street at sunset. "It's like we're representing the house tonight," he said.

Doyoung smiled, but corrected him. "Don't say it so loudly like that, or we'll get a curfew."

"Are there others like us?" Ten asked. "In other houses?"

Doyoung enjoyed being asked questions like this, since he seemed to have more knowledge about the Company and the project than any of them, and he dolled it out every now and then like an expert. "There are a few others, but I don't know how many. I've heard there are a few girls, but the company wants to keep us separated."

"How come?"

"To prevent us from dating them," Doyoung said, and with a crooked smile, he settled his gaze on Jaehyun. Following his lead, they all turned to watch Jaehyun.

Jaehyun was walking with his head down and hands in his pockets. He looked up at them, blushing. "Why are you looking at me when you say that? I'm innocent."

"Innocent... for now," Taeyong commented darkly.

Doyoung was going along with it, but then he turned on Taeyong. "Leave him alone, he hasn't done anything."

"I know, I know. But a guy like Jaehyun is dangerous to women, he is so handsome."

"Ah, shut up," Jaehyun said, but he was smiling as he put his head down again. In reality, Jaehyun was fond of compliments.

They gathered together in a bunch at the front of the theatre. They spent a while debating which movie to see, since Taeyong would automatically turn down every suggestion that Doyoung made. Doyoung's eyes shone darkly. "You're just rejecting everything to annoy me!"

"No, no, I just have particular tastes."

"Well, hurry up and choose something. In the meantime I'm going to get some snacks." He started to walk off, but then changed his mind and turned back. "Someone come with me - Ten!"

Ten automatically followed the instruction. He caught up with Doyoung and they walked together to the nearest convenience store. He thought that maybe Doyoung wanted to talk to him privately.

When they were out of earshot of the others, Doyoung asked, "So, what's it like living with old Taebreze over there?"

"Taebreze?"

"Yeah, does he still spray Febreze everywhere in the room?"

"Oh right, yeah... he does."

Doyoung laughed. He had a big laugh - his eyes scrunched up and he threw his head back. Ten laughed too, although he hadn't really thought of Taeyong's obsessive behaviour as funny before. All the same he felt thankful to be included in an inside joke with Doyoung.

"It's alright, I guess," Ten replied. "He's just very neat, but I can't complain about that."

"Don't ever let him be mean to you. You know he's all bark and no bite, right? But if you have any problems you can tell me about it."

Ten wasn't too sure what sort of problems Doyoung was referring to here, or whether he was serious in his offer. After a moment of awkward silence, Ten realised this may have been Doyoung's attempt at an offer of friendship and this was confirmed by Doyoung's next words:

"We were born in the same year. We should be friends." His voice came out soft, tinged with guilt. "It was awkward with you at first, because we couldn't speak easily, but we should be friends from now on."

"I agree," Ten replied, but the conversation quickly returned to silence. Ten raked his mind for something they could talk about, and he awkwardly blurted out: "I had cancer."

Doyoung cocked his head out of curiosity, and Ten wondered if he had just made everything more awkward. However, Doyoung smiled suddenly, and replied "yes, so did I."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was in and out of hospital for about a year."

"Me too. I really hated the hospital, the stuffy air..."

"The way people come in to see you with that look of pity, and then they leave, but you have to stay..." Doyoung drifted off mid sentence with a melancholy note. But then he grinned at Ten. "It's a weird thing for us to bond over, isn't it?"

"It's a start." Ten chuckled, and paused to think about it. "I suppose we were all the same though. We were all sick and that's why we were chosen."

Doyoung shook his head. "Not all of us. I mean, Jaehyun was only sick for one week when he was chosen. He caught pneumonia and they managed to capture him when he was just hours away from death."

"Wow, that was lucky."

"I know. It's such an unbelievable story. He's also lucky his family could pay for it. As for Taeil, he's the opposite. He was born with a bad heart and he was sick his whole life. The Company chose Taeil because he was good at school, even though he was ill. It was the same for me."

"Wow..." Ten was amazed to be hearing these stories only just now. He suddenly wished he could know everything about these people he had been living with. "What about Taeyong? Was he sick too?"

"No, Taeyong was the weird one. He was in an accident."

It was probably rude to gossip about someone's traumatic past, but Ten was so curious. "What sort of accident was it?"

"It happened at a swimming carnival. He fell off a diving board and he drowned. He was in a coma or something. I remember reading about it in the news when it happened."

Ten's stomach dropped. The words _swimming carnival, diving board, drowning_ \- these images were so familiar to him. Doyoung did not notice Ten's change in mood.

"What sort of snacks do you want to eat?" he asked cheerfully.

When they made their way back to the others, Taeyong waved at Doyoung impatiently. He seemed oddly cheerful now, giddy like a child on their birthday. "Come on, Doyoung, don't be slow," he called in a sing song voice.

"Don't hurry," Jaehyun called out. "We've got some time."

"I was only joking with you," Taeyong said. Doyoung didn't seem to care either way. He calmly handed out the snacks evenly between them.

"You know, Doyoung's brother is an actor in films," Jaehyun said. "Isn't that right, _hyung?_ "

Doyoung was concentrating on the distribution of snacks and he didn't look up. After a second, he replied, "yes, my brother Dong-hyun."

"I've never heard of him," Taeyong said. He seemed to have become annoyed again, glancing over Jaehyun who was looking at Doyoung with admiration. Taeil and Ten were also interested in Doyoung's brother, but Doyoung was clearly not in the mood for discussing him.

"In movies he's called Gong Myung."

Doyoung's level voice somehow brought the conversation to an end. He said, "so what are we watching?"

* * *

Ten was able to watch the film with some enjoyment, since they had chosen a comedy that was not too difficult to follow, even if he didn't catch all of the dialogue. At times he lost concentration, and he thought of his recurring nightmare, only be washed over with its same old terror. But now it was even more terrifying. It wasn't a dream, but a memory of someone else, and someone else had experienced that same terror in real life. Ten would find himself forgetting the film and looking over at Taeyong.

On this day Taeyong was in a good mood, since he was enjoying his usual pleasure of winding up Doyoung, while competing for the attention of Jaehyun. _He's a sort of pitiful person_ , Ten thought, and felt guilty for thinking it. And what if all that other stuff was true - his record of assault and bullying. He seemed too delicate to assault anyone.

After the film was over, Taeil walked beside Ten on their way back. Taeil was fulfilling his usual role as the responsible eldest - and he had sensed that Ten's mood had changed.

"I hope it wasn't too hard for you to follow," he said kindly.

"No, it was fine. I enjoyed it." Ten felt guilty for telling such an obvious lie, when he knew that Taeil could sense his unease. "I have a few things on my mind, that's all."

"Are you homesick?"

Ten chuckled. "Absolutely. But it's not that I hate it here."

"That's okay. I understand. But for me, Seoul is my hometown." Taeil smiled kindly. "I suppose you've had it quite rough."

"I'm alright, really." He paused, but he wanted to tell Taeil more. "It's just that there are many things about our lives which I don't understand."

"Honestly, I don't understand much of it either."

They said goodnight to each other in the common room. Ten did not think that Taeil had told him the whole truth, but it was better than nothing. Even after Taeil left, he was reluctant to go to bed, suddenly frightened that the nightmare would come back to him that night.

He found himself momentarily alone in the common room when Teacher came in. He was puffed from walking quickly up the stairs. "Ten," he said, "you're still awake?"

"Yes, I was..."

"I wanted to talk to you actually. Just to catch up. How have you been?"

Ten nodded nervously. "I'm fine."

"Do you have anything to tell me?"

Ten realised that he wanted some sort of report on what he had noticed from Taeyong. They had not spoken about this at all since the first night Teacher had asked him to keep an eye on Taeyong.

"No," Ten said. "There's nothing really to tell."

He said good night and quickly returned to his room. As he lay in the dark, he was overcome by the urge to call out to Taeyong.

"Taeyong-ah," he called.

Taeyong grumbled sleepily in reply. "You shouldn't call me that."

Ten was confused by what he meant. He wondered if Taeyong was mad at him for talking and just wanted him to shut up.

"You should call me _hyung_ ," he continued.

"Hyung...ah..."

"It's because you are younger than me, so you have to show some respect to me."

"But... Doyoung doesn't call you that."

"Doyoung has no manners at all. You should not follow his example. I will teach you better manners."

Ten smiled to himself in the dark. This was somehow amusing to him. It seemed strange to him to call Taeyong by an honorific when they were only a few months different in age, but he did it anyway, and he couldn't conceal the smile in his voice.

"Good night, _hyung_. Sleep peacefully."

Taeyong mumbled in reply. "You still say it weirdly..."


	5. Ten's Most Interesting Date

The following week, Teacher announced that they were scheduled to have their first "test". All the puzzle and strategy exercises they had been doing would be recorded and reported back to the Company.

Ten thought it sounded fun, but the other four turned pale and took to studying with even more vigor. Doyoung gently suggested to Ten that he should do the same.

"The test could mean a lot for us," he said.

"How? If we fail will the Company kick us out?"

"No, they can't do that - we are stuck with them. But it might influence what sort of work they give us at the end. If we're smart, we'll be put in good positions."

"And if we're dumb?"

Jaehyun chirped up. "If we're dumb we might end up singing in some night club. My dad once told me about the old singing androids..."

Doyoung, frustrated at being interrupted, snapped, "we're not androids, and we're not going to be singers!"

"I don't know, singing sounds fun..."

"Careers in entertainment are for--" Doyoung paused mid-sentence, blushing suddenly. He had almost mentioned Gong Myung. "Careers in entertainment are not for us. Let's study hard and we'll get something good."

* * *

It appeared as though they were not the only ones weighed down by the burden of study. Ten had been messaging Johnny and getting very little response. Johnny eventually replied with a short message that explained they were about to have exams, he was very sorry and they would talk later. Even though he appreciated the reason, Ten was stung by the rejection. He missed Johnny so much. _Do I really like him?_ Ten thought to himself, _or do I just want someone to be with?_ At this stage he couldn't tell.

He had the inexplicable feeling of his youth slipping away, even though he wasn't yet 20 years old. Even before he came here he had promised himself that he wouldn't let his second life go to waste.

He tiptoed into his bedroom. Taeyong was not there and Ten supposed he must be out on one of his secret trips. _I'll have a secret trip of my own,_ he thought as he picked up his phone. He opened the app and browsed the messages. _Someone has got to want to meet with me!_ And sure enough there was a message from someone nearby.

It was short and to the point: _Let's meet._

Ten laughed at it. It was so direct and unembellished. They usually at least tried flirting with him first.

He wrote back: _can you meet me tonight?_

_Yes._

The message came so quickly. Ten felt optimistic.

_Where should I go?_

_University Oval. Meet there at 9. Don't bring anyone with you._

Ten realised that 9 o'clock was only fifteen minutes away. He put his jacket on quickly and rushed down the stairs. In the summer the evening could turn unexpectedly cool, and even with his jacket on, Ten shivered in the breeze. The chill heightened his sense of anticipation - or was it nerves? fear?

Normally Ten would exchange photos with a person before he met them. There were all sorts of reasons for it - security, being able to recognise them, checking if he was attractive or not. And yet he had exchanged nothing with this one. Somehow, this time it didn't matter. He had a strange feeling that he knew who it would be. A chill ran down his spine and this time it wasn't the breeze. He became more nervous with every step he took.

He was late to University Oval, so when he arrived his date was already there - a lone figure standing in the centre of the oval, hands in his pockets. Illuminated by the moonlight, he was beautiful and mysterious and Ten felt enchanted by him in a way he had never felt possible before. Ten's nerves disappeared and he walked steadily towards him.

"Taeyong _hyung_ , it's nice to meet you."

Taeyong's large eyes set on Ten with a hostile gaze. "Why did you come here?"

"Because you asked me to come? Did you know it was me?"

Taeyong's eyes flicked back to the ground. "Yes, I knew. I always see you going on that app so I thought I would test you. I didn't think you'd actually come. You are very daring."

"You mean you don't use the app? You don't meet people with it?"

"No," Taeyong replied contemptuously. "I'm not like you."

Ten bit his lip. Taeyong was full of lies. Ten had already checked the account and saw that it had been made three years ago, so Taeyong had most likely used it before tonight. _And if he didn't think I would come... why was he waiting here?_ Ten wanted to say something, but he could tell that Taeyong was embarrassed, and he was telling these lies to save face.

_I'm not like you._ This is a lie too - Taeyong was also full of loneliness and longing, their reason for meeting was exactly the same. And yet Taeyong wanted to hide this from him. Ten felt almost angry.

Not to mention his chances of getting laid that night had pretty much reduced to zero - as interesting as it was to meet Taeyong like this.

"So what should we do?" he asked Taeyong at last. "Since we're meeting like this, we should at least go have dinner?"

Taeyong shrugged. "Yes, if you're hungry we should eat."

They walked together, side by side, back to the entrance of the oval.

"What happened to your _gyopo_ boyfriend?" Taeyong asked suddenly.

"He's studying right now. And he's not my boyfriend."

"Where is he studying?"

"Seoul National University," Ten said, feeling quite proud of Johnny - although he didn't exactly know why, Johnny wasn't his boyfriend after all. "It's the best university here, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's very hard to get into if you are Korean. But for foreigners they make it easy. I'm not surprised that a _gyopo_ would be studying there."

Ten felt personally injured by these words. How dare he speak so dismissively of Johnny, _his_ Johnny (although he is not yet that.) He knew that Taeyong was probably only saying this out of jealousy, but Ten wanted to hurt him back anyway.

"So," he said, "is it true that you never used the app before? Or is that a lie like every other lie you told me tonight?"

As soon as he had said it, Ten regretted it. He really had no intention of trying to humiliate Taeyong any further.

Predictably, Taeyong chose not to answer the question. He looked around the street idly, and then said, "I don't know why you want to be so obvious about it, meeting guys all the time. And you shouldn't go around talking about these things so openly. People will think you are a pervert."

Ten replied, "I guess I don't really care what people think. Not since I almost died."

"Well, in this country it matters what people think about you."

Ten considered that thought as they walked into a noodle shop. They sat down opposite each other, under the same fluorescent lights that seemed to be in every little restaurant. Taeyong's pale skin glowed eerily under the light, like he was a ghost.

"So do you care about what people think about you?"

"Yes, I do. But I know what you're thinking. I should care more about it, because everyone hates me."

Ten chuckled. "That's not true."

"You know it is. Teacher hates me. Doyoung sure as hell hates me."

"I don't think Jaehyun and Taeil hate you... do they? Surely, they don't."

"Yeah well, you don't know everything. Before you moved into my room Taeil used to sleep with me, and before him, Jaehyun did. They got moved because they didn't like me. And I know while they were staying with me Teacher asked them to spy on me, keep him updated if I did anything bad."

Ten looked down quickly and cleared his throat. "I know, Teacher asked me to do the same..."

"Oh yeah? Did you tell him anything?"

"No," Ten replied, and then he laughed. "I have nothing to tell him. I really don't know anything about you."

Taeyong looked at him carefully. "Are you going to tell him about tonight? About how you met me?"

"Of course not! Why would I do that?"

Taeyong shrugged. He asked the waitress to bring them something which Ten did not recognise the sound of, but he was hungry so he didn't care what it was.

"Just so you know," he said. "I don't hate you."

Taeyong looked at him again. "Is that so."

"Well, I don't know you well, but I like you well enough."

"Maybe you should get to know me better then."

"Okay." Ten felt optimistic. "Will you tell me something about yourself? Where do you go at night when you go out?"

Taeyong looked unhappy. "I don't go anywhere. I just wander from place to place, like a ghost. Actually, I think I am a ghost. I was half dead, and I was brought back so that makes me a ghost."

"Is that really it?"

"I don't have much else to do. Sometimes I wish they hadn't done this, and just let me die. It's pointless, being stuck in this half-life."

"Half-life? It's not a half life... I think it's a second life."

"I didn't want a second life either. I wasn't particularly fond of the first one." He paused. "But you would say that, you're always happy."

Ten couldn't help but laugh. "I guess, I'm a little happier these days."

"You miss your family."

"Yes, that's right."

They ate their food quietly and did not speak for a few minutes. After a while, Taeyong said, seemingly out of nowhere: "I had an accident where I fell off a diving board."

Ten answered automatically. "No, you were pushed."

It took a few seconds for Ten to realise what he had said. He looked guiltily at Taeyong, and Taeyong looked back at him with a cold yet curious expression. "How do you know that? Did someone tell you that?"

"No... it's from my nightmare. I'm on a very high diving board and I get pushed over. It's a big pool and there are lots of people around. I don't know why, but for some reason I feel like I'm dreaming about your past."

Taeyong did not answer for a long time and Ten wondered if it was because he was annoyed that Ten had brought up something so stupid. But after a while, in a light voice, he said, "that's right... there were many people watching."


	6. The Discovery of Doyoung's Secret

After they had eaten they walked home together, closely side by side. A person watching from a distance would have thought they were two close friends, wrapped up in each others' company. But they did not speak to each other. They both felt the uncomfortable sense that they had already learned too much about one another.

As they came to the last street, Taeyong broke the silence. "What do you think of Doyoung?"

"Huh?"

"Do you like him?"

"Yeah, sure..." Ten did not want to say more. He had no interest in getting involved in Taeyong and Doyoung's petty arguments.

"I discovered one of his secrets," Taeyong continued. He suddenly grabbed Ten by the hand and pulled him into one of the small side streets near their house. "Ssh! He's coming now."

Ten cautiously peered out onto the street. Sure enough, Doyoung was walking towards them from the other side. Beside him was a girl in a school uniform, long hair swishing side to side as she walked cheerfully, holding his hand. At the front of the house they stopped to face each other. Doyoung kissed her on the forehead and then spoke to her quietly for another minute before going inside.

Taeyong seemed to enjoy watching their interaction. Ten side-eyed him. "Is that it? Doyoung has a girlfriend?"

"A _secret_ girlfriend. He's such a goody-two-shoes, he probably doesn't want anyone to know he has a life outside of studying."

Ten smiled. "Do _you_ have a girlfriend?"

Taeyong ignored him. "I've seen them before. The girl is a high school student, she's 18. It doesn't surprise me that he likes a younger girl, he always likes to feel superior. Look at the way he kissed her forehead - like a parent!"

Ten thought that Taeyong seemed inappropriately interested in this. He personally couldn't imagine how a chaste kiss on the forehead could be considered scandalous - he had done so much worse.

"It is funny though," Ten admitted, "that he left her on the street instead of taking her home."

"See! He has no manners or chivalry."

"But it looks as though someone is picking her up. She's on her phone now."

The girl was still there, but she had moved into the shadow of an electricity pole and she was texting on her phone. Just as Ten was about to suggest that they mind their own business and go back inside, another person came out of the house. It was Jaehyun.

Ten glanced at Taeyong, but clearly Taeyong had not anticipated this part. His face was pale and and frozen with shock.

Now Ten was also consumed by voyeuristic curiosity. Together they watched with breaths held as Jaehyun greeted the girl with an embrace. They spoke for a minute, and then they walked away together, hand in hand. Only when they had turned a corner and were no longer in sight did Ten and Taeyong step out from the alley way.

"Oh my god!" Taeyong's voice was breathless and brimming with unwholesome pleasure.

Ten had to agree it was an interesting turn of events. "That girl must be crazy, she's going out with both of them? Do either of them even know? Should we tell them?"

"I _can't wait_ to tell Doyoung..."

Ten could just imagine the ways Taeyong would use this information to torture and humiliate Doyoung. And all that Doyoung had done was innocently date a girl.

"Don't tell him," Ten said gravely. "Talk to Jaehyun instead, since you get along with him."

"Yeah, sure," Taeyong replied lightly.

It was past 11pm already, so they returned to their room quietly. As they were undressing, Ten looked cautiously over at Taeyong.

"You're not going to tell Doyoung about this. I know you won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know you're not really that mean." On an impulse, Ten reached out to hold his hand. He half thought that Taeyong might cast him off contemptuously, but the opposite happened. Taeyong became shy, and looked downwards. For the second time that night, Ten thought he looked rather beautiful.

After a moment, Taeyong murmured softly, "I'm sorry if I seemed mean to you before. I wasn't so good at helping you when you first came here. I didn't teach you much, did I?"

Ten laughed. "That's fine. You did your best."

Taeyong sat on the end of his bed, pulling his socks off slowly. He sat there for a moment, looking as though he was reluctant to go to bed.

Just as Ten was about to climb into bed, Taeyong said, in the same soft voice, "do you still get the nightmares?"

"Yeah. Sometimes."

"If you ever get scared, I don't mind if you keep your light on. And if you want, you can lie with me."

Ten wasn't sure if he heard correctly, and almost asked for Taeyong to repeat himself, but he didn't want to embarrass him. If this was Taeyong's awkward way of propositioning him, it probably wouldn't happen again, so Ten decided to make the most of it. He walked over and took Taeyong by the hand.

"I would really like that."

Taeyong turned off the light and they both crawled into Ten's bed. The bed was small and it was strange to share a pillow with someone, being unable to move without brushing up against him. Taeyong smelled like cleaning products and soap from the bathroom, but beneath it there was another smell, that boyish smell that was so alluring, but also comforting.

"Do you have dreams too?" Ten asked, murmuring softly into Taeyong's ear.

"Yes. I dream about my parents sometimes. I don't know why... I always fought with them. There's a dream I keep having where a woman is hugging me and crying and telling me not to go... I don't know who she is, she's not my own mother."

Ten smiled and instinctively moved closer, until Taeyong's hair was touching his nose. "You're dreaming about my mother. She's at the airport, right?"

"Yes. I think so." Taeyong's eyes opened fully. "Why is that? why do we have each others' memories in our heads?"

"I don't know. But I guess we should really understand each other, right?"

Taeyong turned his head to face Ten. They were so close their noses were almost touching. Ten felt overwhelmed; overwhelmed by his beauty, his mystery... _I don't understand him, but I want to,_ he thought.

Ten brushed their lips together, and then their hands moved in unison, Taeyong holding the back of his neck and Ten sliding a hand down his waist. They kissed more deeply, and Ten's thoughts spun around his head. Before this night, the idea of sleeping with Taeyong seemed to be something inconceivable, but now it suddenly seemed so right and so natural.

He slid his hands under Taeyong's shirt to pull it off. It was probably a terrible idea actually - it would change everything between them, but then again, for the same reason it seemed like a totally amazing idea. It was too late, in any case.


	7. Taeyong's Change of Character

Next morning there was only one apple left in the fruit bowl. Doyoung was about to reach for it, but Taeyong was too fast for him. Doyoung clenched his fist together with frustration.

Taeyong held the apple in his hand for a few seconds, staring at it thoughtfully, then he put it down in front of Doyoung.

"Here, have your breakfast."

Doyoung looked mildly stunned. "Doesn't _hyung_ want to eat it?"

"No, you can have it. I changed my mind."

Doyoung stared at the apple suspiciously, wondering if perhaps Taeyong had somehow poisoned it. Taeyong _tsk_ ed at him.

"What are you waiting for? Enjoy your breakfast."

Triumphant, he walked to other side of the room and sat down next to Ten. "What are you smiling at?" he asked.

"That was nice of you," Ten replied.

"Well, I can be nice sometimes." He crossed his arms firmly. "Like you said, I'm not really mean."

"I know."

From that morning, a change seemed to have come over Taeyong. Ten wasn't sure if the others noticed it, but Taeyong had become much less argumentative and bitter. He went about studying quietly and never interrupted when Doyoung spoke. Ten was amazed that his words had been so effective - and to his relief, Taeyong made no indication of having discovered the awkward situation between Jaehyun and Doyoung.

The others assumed Taeyong's change was down to pressure due to the upcoming exam. And yet, strangely enough, Taeyong's interest in studying had also declined, and he spent his usual study time drawing assorted pictures in his notebook, much to Doyoung's confusion.

Ten did not regret sleeping with Taeyong, but he also did not expect it to happen again. It had been a spontaneous, isolated incident, and although Taeyong's behaviour had changed, he made no indication of seeing Ten in a different way, or so Ten thought.

Just before he was about to go to bed, he was folding his laundry and Taeyong came to sit next to him. Without a word, he began to help.

"Ah, it's not necessary," Ten said. He knew that Taeyong liked cleaning, but that usually just meant cleaning his own stuff and he was not usually very helpful towards others.

Taeyong continued to fold Ten's laundry anyway. "It's partly my fault it's dirty, anyway, right?"

"Oh..." Ten found himself blushing when he realised what Taeyong meant. "Really, that's fine. I mean, that's just what happens."

Taeyong also leaned over to straighten the pillow on Ten's bed. As he did so, Ten held him by the shoulder, and then placed his palm against his cheek. Taeyong looked down shyly as Ten stroked his face, and Ten couldn't help but remember everything that had happened last night. He had been shy and delicate then too, partly to Ten's surprise.

"Did you like it?" Ten asked him suddenly. "Last night, I mean."

"Did _you_ like it?"

"Of course. It was nice, but different..."

"Different to what?"

Ten cursed himself. He didn't really want to talk about his previous lovers. But it had been different - he supposed that the clumsy touch of a stranger would always be different to the affectionate, yet also clumsy, touch of a person you knew. In addition to that, Ten had felt a greater sensitivity and awareness of Taeyong, as though he found himself partially inside his head.

"Different to... everything."

Ten kissed his cheek lightly, and then kissed his jaw and the skin beneath his ear. Taeyong hummed softly, and then said, "if you tell anyone about this I'll kill you."

Ten giggled as he bit lightly on his skin. "Okay..."

* * *

That night, after falling asleep with Taeyong in his bed a second time, Ten had another dream. He was by himself in a large room. There was a white rug on the floor, and artwork on the walls - walls so high they seemed to go on forever. Ten was lying on the rug, carefully drawing on a piece of paper on the floor in front of him. He drew slowly and precisely, putting together something like a comic book scene.

Then something changed in the room - a person had entered and a voice filled his ears. "Don't draw on the floorboards, you know mum will go nuts if there's any mark on there."

Ten ignored the voice, and continued drawing with intense concentration. He then noticed a young woman walking around the room. "Have you seen my bag? The red one. I thought I left it here. Hey! listen to me when I talk to you!" She waved a hand in front of his face and he ducked away with frustration. "Why are you always drawing those stupid cartoons anyway? No wonder you keep failing at school." She snatched the paper from the floor and then scrunched it up. 

Ten was overwhelmed by anger. He yelled, "you dumb bitch! Ugly bitch!"

Her hand flew into his hair and she yanked it harshly.

Ten woke up with Taeyong's warm and naked body pressed against him. After a few deep breaths, he put his lips against Taeyong's forehead, which was still damp with sweat. He was shaken by the weird dream, but Taeyong's gentle breathing eventually lulled him back to sleep.

This time he dreamed about a swimming pool - a different one than usual, a sunny outdoor pool, with kids running around. He was watching a chubby kid in a bathing suit walk towards the pool's edge. As the kid adjusted his goggles, Ten called out to him: "Hey, don't do that..."

The kid looked around in confusion.

"If you jump in the pool all the water will spill out!"

A few people laughed, but the kid continued to position himself at the edge of the pool. He stayed there for a long time, perhaps embarrassed at how people had laughed at him. Ten could feel frustration build as he watched him. He wanted to see what happened when the fat kid hit the pool. He crept up behind the kid and flicked his foot towards the kid's calf, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the water with a cry and a splash. The voices around them all laughed and the kid scrambled out of the pool and out of sight.

Ten laughed too, but then suddenly they were somewhere else. The fat kid walked towards him, and he looked different now - older, taller and leaner. Ten realised they were in a change-room.

"Are you here for the swimming carnival?" the kid asked.

"Yeah," Ten replied. "I got put in a few events."

"Diving?"

"No."

"You're scared of heights, right?"

Ten laughed. "I'm not."

"It doesn't matter if you are." The kid smiled condescendingly as he adjusted his cap.

Ten felt stung by humiliation, and then anger. "I bet you can't jump off the highest board."

The kid shrugged. "I'm doing diving later this afternoon. I bet you can't though."

"I fucking can!"

"Go on then. Let's see you do it now."

Determined, Ten climbed the ladder and the kid followed him. The higher he got the more terrified he became. At the top of the diving board he could see all the people in the stands, getting ready to watch the carnival. Knowing that the fall would kill him, he seemed to stay there forever, and then he heard the voice behind him.

"You're scared, huh? _Lee Taeyong are you scared?_ "

Ten's eyes snapped open. Nothing in the room had changed; Taeyong was still asleep beside him, his breath tickling Ten's neck. His presence was no longer comforting to Ten - he somehow felt too close for comfort.

Careful not to wake him, Ten untangled himself from Taeyong's embrace and climbed out of the bed. He wrapped himself in a blanket that he pulled off Taeyong's bed and then made his way to the common room. He sat huddled up on the couch, looking out at the twinkling lights of Seoul (even shining at this dead hour).

In his head he replayed the dream of pushing the fat kid into the pool. Ten could not shake the feeling that he had actually done it, that he had been the one to do the pushing. But it was Taeyong's memory, not his. Ten could not bring himself to feel judgemental towards Taeyong. It was as though he considered himself equally as guilty. His eyelids were heavy, so he closed them and huddled further into the couch. _Two times having sex and I'm turning into him,_ he thought sleepily. _It's crazy but it feels true..._

Eventually he fell asleep again, curled up on the couch. He dreamed of being back in the bedroom, a familiar sight but there was also something different about the room. It was morning and Ten was making the beds. He made both beds and when he had finished the one that was his own, he pulled out a jumper that was tucked under the pillow. It was the blue hooded jumper that Jaehyun always wore. He laid it out on the bed, patting it down gently, and then he climbed onto the bed and rubbed his face into the jumper, as if there was an imaginary person inside of it. As he lay, he heard voices in the hall.

It was Jaehyun's voice. "Taeil hyung," he said, "can I swap rooms with you?"

After a pause, Taeil replied: "Why? What's the problem?"

"I don't want to share with Taeyong anymore. It's weird."

Taeil laughed awkwardly. "But he's always so nice to you. He likes you the best."

"I know." Jaehyun's voice was sad. "That's the problem..."

Doyoung poked Ten awake. As Ten opened his eyes he saw the small light of dawn coming through the window and Doyoung leaning over him, still in his pajamas.

"What are you doing sleeping here?"

Ten pulled himself up and Doyoung sat next to him.

"Did you fight with Taeyong?"

"No, no, it's not that. I just had a nightmare."

"Are you worried about the test?"

Ten blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light. "To be honest... not really."

Doyoung fiddled with his hands. "I was so worried I couldn't sleep..." He glanced at Ten, and smiled quickly. "It's probably silly, right?"

Ten couldn't help but smile at Doyoung's confession. He felt the sudden urge to hug him, but instead he took Doyoung's hand. "I think you will be fine."

"Yes... I think so too."

"Doyoung, can I ask you something?"

"Okay."

"Do you ever get nightmares? I mean, strange dreams about stuff that might have happened in the past?"

Doyoung looked confused by the question so Ten took that as a no.

* * *

When Ten returned to his room to get his clothes he saw that Taeyong was still sleeping in his bed, as peacefully as he was when Ten left him. Ten wondered about his dreams, and if he had nightmares too. It was a mystery to him.

* * *

In Taeyong's dream he was in a sunny room, sitting up in bed when two girls in school uniforms came through the door, one holding what looked like a large garbage bag behind her back. He was amused by how shyly she carried it.

"What's this?" He tried to get up but the other girl rushed to put a hand on his arm, keeping him put in the bed.

She was talking to him. "School really sucks without you. Even the teachers all miss you."

Taeyong laughed and leaned over again, trying to see what was in the bag. She showed it to him reluctantly, and when she did he saw that there were wet tears on her face.

In the bag was a heap of paper origami, all different colours. "What does it mean?" he asked them.

The girl who was crying did not speak. The girl who was holding his arm said softly, "it means you are going to get better."

When he was finally able to pull himself into a standing position, he was no longer in the hospital room. He was now outdoors, at what appeared to be Han River Park. Around him people were riding bikes, and a tall figure stood by himself about 50m down the path. Excited, Taeyong started to run towards him, and the boy received him with open arms. They hugged tightly, Taeyong burying his face into the boy's chest and shoulder.

The boy spoke in a foreign accent. "I'm sorry I've forgotten how to say your last name. But... ah, I've missed your face so much!"

He held Taeyong's face in both his hands. They were somewhere else now, inside where it was quiet. Taeyong trembled as the boy stroked his cheek.

"I love the way you smile. It's like... every atom in your body is charged with happiness!"

Taeyong woke up alone in Ten's bed. It had just gone past 7am. "Johnny..." he mumbled to himself moodily as he rubbed his eye. "Fucking Johnny..."

* * *

Ten somehow avoided Taeyong for the rest of the day. The first time they found themselves alone together was just before bed. Taeyong was seated cross legged on the floor of their bedroom, drawing in his notebook while Ten was playing with his phone.

Ten looked up briefly and felt a strange sense of deja vu. "You like drawing, don't you?" he said.

Taeyong didn't reply. He glanced up from his notebook and stared at Ten silently for a few seconds, and then returned to drawing.

Ten went back to looking at his phone and saw he had a new message from Johnny.

"Ten~~~~ my favourite guy!"

Ten felt a flutter in his chest. "What is it? I didn't hear from you in so long!!!"

"I just finished my exams~"

"I have an exam tomorrow!!! :("

"Ok... In that case, I won't talk now. Let's meet up after, I have something really important to tell you!"

Ten smiled as he switched his phone off but his smile fell when he looked up and saw that Taeyong was watching him with a suspicious gaze.

"You really like him, huh?"

Ten shivered. _How did he know?_ "Ah, it's not like that..."

"I know what it's like. You like him. You don't like me... I'm just more available to you..."

"No, no, I do like you! I do..."

Taeyong closed his book shut and sighed loudly as he picked himself up from the floor. "There's no point in lying to me. I mean, do I look like _Doyoung?_ " He pulled his blanket off the bed. "Don't worry, I'll sleep in the common room this time..."


	8. The Escape Room

In the morning they were taken to a location they had never seen before. They took a couple of transfers on the subway, and eventually arrived at an old and run down office building. Teacher made them gather around the entrance.

"This is a basic puzzle course that's usually given to people who apply to work at the Company. The Company is interested in how well you can complete it. The rule of the exam is simple: you have to find your way out of the rooms. In each room there will be a key that must be obtained through various methods. That key will take you to the next room and so forth. I'm not going to assess what sort of methods you use, I will only time how long it takes for you to complete the mission."

Ten was excited. "This sounds like fun!" he whispered as they were taken to the first room.

Doyoung rolled his eyes. "We'll soon see if it's really fun."

The first room was a messy office. There were three bookshelves and a desk covered in papers. There Teacher left them alone.

Doyoung was left somewhat dumbfounded by the lack of instructions. Most of the puzzles he was used to solving had clear objectives and set ups. He wasn't used to being left to his own devices. "What are we supposed to do first?" he asked.

"We just find the key," Ten suggested.

"But where do we look?"

"Anywhere."

Taeil, Jaehyun and Ten had already started looking, pouring through the desk and bookshelves. After a moment of hesitation Doyoung joined in with them, flicking through each book on the bookshelf carefully.

Taeyong was sitting on the floor in the corner, tapping at the side of the small armchair. Doyoung looked over at him with confusion. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Taeyong did not reply. After a few more seconds, he called out, "okay, I've found it." In his hand he held up the key.

The others cheered in celebration, but Doyoung was still confused. "Where was it?"

"It was under the material on the armchair."

"What-- how did you know to look there?"

"Who cares, I've found it, so let's go. We're being timed, remember."

The next room was smaller than the first, and it had no furniture, except a box sitting on a small table. They crowded around the box and Jaehyun tried to open it with his fingers, but it was locked.

"It needs a combination. Look, there's a cypher on the front."

"Ah, I see it!" Doyoung said. "I can get it, I'm good at cypher."

He immediately set to work on the puzzle in his notebook. When he looked up the box had already been opened, and Ten had fished out the key.

"Hey how did you do that?"

"I just figured out the combination, that's all," Ten told him, to which Doyoung's eyes narrowed.

"But... _how?_ "

"It doesn't matter. We've got the next key, let's go!"

Before long they had completed eight rooms in the house. Out of those eight, six were solved by Taeyong, and two by Ten, one with some help from Taeil.

By this stage, Doyoung was no longer trying to find any of the keys. He walked into the 9th room slowly, his arms folded, watching Taeyong with narrowed eyes.

"You're cheating," he said at last.

"Eh?"

"You're cheating. There's no way you could have solved all those puzzles. You knew them already, and you knew where the key was hidden."

Taeyong did not reply, as he was busy searching for the next key. This time they were in a small kitchen, with a leaky sink. Taeyong fumbled around in the cupboards, until he found the paper with the puzzle instructions. The last lock was a computerised lock on the door, and they would need to figure out how to break its code.

Taeyong placed the paper on the tabletop and they all looked at it together.

"You really think I'm cheating, huh?" Taeyong said. "In that case I won't do this one."

Jaehyun seemed frustrated. "Who cares if he's cheating! We just need to get out of the rooms as fast as we can."

Doyoung shot him a dark look. "I really doubt that's the point of the test. There's no point in doing these puzzles if a person cheats."

"I'm not cheating though," Taeyong said happily, as he folded his arms. "Ask Ten, ask Taeil - am I cheating?"

Doyoung glanced at them, but neither wanted to contribute.

Taeyong continued. "Doyoung's just jealous because I'm smarter than him!"

At this, Doyoung's nostril's flared. "Don't be ridiculous. You are _not_ smarter than me!"

"Okay, how about you do this one? I won't try and break the code."

They remained staring at each other for a few seconds, before Doyoung breathed out deeply and started looking at the paper. He took out his pencil and scribbled on the paper for a few minutes, while the others stood awkwardly around him. At last he found a solution - but when he tried to open the lock on the door, it beeped in rejection.

"Aish!" Jaehyun cried. "We're going over time now, we have to hurry."

"Oh, shut up Jaehyun you're not doing anything!"

Taeyong walked around to the locked door, and pressed a few keys. After a pause, it opened.

Doyoung's face was pink, and he didn't bother to hide his frustration and anger. "You bastard - you _are_ cheating!"

This was the last door of the escape route, and it took them back outside to the street. They waited around in the sunlight for a few minutes, before Teacher returned and found them there. He looked surprised to see them.

"You kids are finished? That was quick!"

"How does it compare with the usual times?" Doyoung asked him.

"I'd say you kids finished it in about half the time our recruits take, maybe less. That's very unusual."

Doyoung glared suspiciously at Taeyong who smiled contentedly and said: "Since we finished it so quickly, will Teacher get us lunch?"

"Yes, yes, I suppose I should. I didn't expect you would finish this early, so I will have to go back to the office for a bit - but I promise I'll get you lunch when I come back."

With nothing to do, they waited by beneath an old persimmon tree that was hanging over a fence. Its fruit were not yet ripe, but starting to become orange as autumn crept in.

"I guess this proves for once and for all that I am smarter than Doyoung," Taeyong said, sounding childish and gleeful.

Doyoung scoffed. "You think I don't know about your past? A useless _iljin_ , that's what you were. You never did well in class and you could only get into a crappy university. Do you think I would be jealous of you? I came first in over half of my classes!"

Taeyong's smile fell somewhat, but Doyoung had not shaken him. "Yeah, well, good for you."

Doyoung folded his arms and kicked the pavement. "I want to know how you cheated!" He looked up and fixed his gaze on Taeyong for a few moments, eyes narrowed as he seemed to notice something for the first time. "Hey - what did you do to yourself? It looks like you have a bite mark under your ear."

Taeyong automatically touched his ear. Ten felt his stomach drop (he remembered doing that, but didn't expect the mark would still be there two days later).

"If you don't know how I got that, then I'm not going to explain it you. You should ask your parents. Maybe because you were so busy studying and getting first in classes, you never had time to figure out the ways of life..."

It was now apparent to everyone that Doyoung had poked the bees nest and he was only making himself look more stupid. "Oh shut up, I have a girlfriend you know."

Taeyong smiled like a cat. "I know that."

"Oh yeah?"

"That high school girl you meet - the one you share with Jaehyun?"

Doyoung laughed contemptuously. "What kind of crazy bullshit are you talking about now?"

"Am I wrong? you don't share your girlfriend with Jaehyun? I thought you must be such a generous _hyung_."

Doyoung looked around at the others. Ten lowered his eyes quickly, feeling guilty since he also knew the secret. He felt painfully disappointed in Taeyong. Taeil was looking confused and curious. And Jaehyun - there was a flicker of something in Jaehyun's face and Doyoung's eyes darkened as he saw it.

They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, before Jaehyun spluttered weakly: "I'm sorry _hyung_..."

"Sorry? Sorry! What are you talking about?"

"She... she told me she already broke up with you."

Doyoung looked back at Taeyong, who was walking off to the side with his his hands in his pockets, looking infuriatingly pleased with himself. There was a split second in which Ten thought Doyoung might lash out and hit him, but the fury in his eyes quickly melted away and was replaced by a look of despair.

* * *

When Jonghyun came around the corner he found them all standing silently, their gazes fixed on the ground, or the tree. He was totally perplexed as to what had changed their mood so quickly - they had been cheerful before and now they all seemed so depressed. And he had even promised to give them lunch. 


	9. Ten's Love Story Continued

Ten cheered up when he saw a message from Johnny asking to meet him that night. He couldn't be more happy to not spend the night in the house, where the tension was thick and the mood was miserable. He changed his clothes quickly, while his mind drifted towards the person he was going to meet.

Taeyong stopped him before he made it to the front door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm going to meet a friend."

"Your _gyopo_ lover?"

Ten drew a breath. For some reason he hated the sound of that word when Taeyong said it. "I'm going to meet Johnny, yeah."

"On a date?"

"Not your business!"

With that he ducked away from Taeyong and left quickly.

* * *

He met Johnny at one of the Han River parks. The park was full of school kids, riding bikes and running around with their backpacks. The setting sun made long shadows from the trees, and it seemed to glow just in the place where Johnny was waiting for him. Ten was overwhelmed with excitement just from the sight of him.

"Johnny Seo!" he called out, and ran with his arms out.

"Chittaphon!" Johnny called back and put both hands on Ten's cheeks. "I'm sorry I've forgotten how to say your last name. But... ah, _I've missed your face so much!_ "

Ten's chest was warmed with happiness at the thought of Johnny missing him. "It's Leechaiyapornkul, but that's okay."

"I've forgotten it again, already. Sorry."

"You said you had something important to tell me, what is it?"

"Oh... it's not really that important. It can wait. I want to give you something first."

Johnny opened his shoulder bag and fumbled around for a small parcel. He gave it to Ten shyly. Ten couldn't help but laugh. "What is it? You got me a present?"

"No, no, it's nothing special. I just thought you might like it."

Ten unwrapped the paper to reveal a baseball cap. He turned it over in his hand and saw that it was the same one that Johnny was wearing.

"Really?"

"I thought you would like to look like me - you like it, eh?"

"Yeah, I love it." Ten put the hat on. "We look like twins now."

"If you were a foot taller, maybe."

Ten reached out to Johnny and hugged him tightly. Johnny broke away from him after a second, and pulled his arm. "Let's not stay here, there's too many people. We can walk for a bit."

"Tell me honesty," Ten said, "do you feel differently about me since the last time we met?"

"Yes, I do. I still like you, but it's just-- it's scary."

"You're scared of me?"

"Not scared _of_ you - scared of what might happen to me if I got close to you, whether I would get in trouble for being too close to a project kid when I'm supposed to be working at the Company. But to tell the truth, over the last couple of weeks I went crazy thinking about you when I couldn't see you. I decided that it doesn't matter. I want to see you anyway." He paused as he watched Ten smile. "But - it has to be secret! Not only because of the Company, but um... also my Dad will kill me..."

Ten nodded. "Sure, I understand."

They eventually sat down together in a small cafe.

"What does _gyopo_ mean?" Ten asked him playfully.

Johnny frowned. "It's what people call me when they want to remind me that I'm a foreigner in my own country. I'm a foreigner here, and I'm a foreigner in America. That makes me a foreigner everywhere."

Ten held his hand, but couldn't suppress his giggle. "I'm a foreigner too - we're a match." He laughed even though Johnny was still looking serious.

Johnny sighed. "I love the way you laugh," he said softly, and it sounded so sincere that Ten was suddenly brought to silence.

"Anyway, where did you hear that word?"

"Oh, it's what Taeyong called you. You know, my roommate."

Johnny cocked his head. "Lee Taeyong? Hey funny you should mention him, I learned something new about him recently. That's what I had to tell you. But I didn't really want to talk about it while we were having a nice time. It's a bit disturbing."

Ten smiled, but he suddenly felt nervous. "Well you have to tell me now."

"Sure, I'll tell you what I know." He leaned in over the table and Ten leaned in too, so they could speak in whispers. "Last week one of the senior scientists took us out - me and a couple of the interns. Anyway this guy really likes to drink. So obviously we kept shouting him drinks so he could tell us more and more stuff. We really just wanted to know about who we needed to please the most in the Company, and get tips on the exams. But then he started talking about the project."

Johnny looked up and turned his head to make sure that no one nearby was listening. "He specifically talked about that kid Lee Taeyong. As you know, he wasn't a very popular choice of candidate for the project in the first place, but it turns out there might be something else that's worrying them. Something might have gone wrong during the operation - since it was the first time doing this sort of experiment, they haven't quite figured out all of the side effects. Anyway, they think that some weird things might have happened with him."

"Really? What kind of weird things?"

"I'm not sure, since he wasn't very clear on these points. But say, does he ever do things that seem a bit... unnatural? Last time you said he was a weird guy, right?"

Ten paused. Since last time so much of his feeling towards Taeyong had changed. "I mean, no, he's not that weird."

"I know it sounds crazy, but did he ever do anything supernatural?"

"Supernatural?" Ten suddenly remembered how Taeyong had sometimes come into the house without anyone seeing him, and he could appear in a room as if by magic.

"Yeah," Johnny continued. "I know it sounds really weird, but has he ever like, spoken to animals?"

"Eh?"

"Yeah, like read their minds. Or read minds in general? It's crazy, but because of the type of engineering, it's possible to get these side effects."

Dizziness washed over Ten, and he held onto the side of the table as the room seem to sway around him. Steadying himself, he said: "So what if it was true? Let's just say he could talk to animals, read minds - what would happen to him?"

"They're going to take him back to the lab, probably. And from what I've heard, no one will miss him."

"You mean they can just do that?"

"Of course they can. Strictly speaking, you guys are the property of the Company."

This time Ten was certain he was going to pass out. Johnny could see him wavering, and so he stood up and rushed around the table to put an arm around him.

"I'm sorry I said that, don't get upset. They can't hurt you, I won't let them do anything to you."

"But what about him?"

"I'm sure they'll let him live. It's so expensive and so difficult to bring someone back, they won't just deactivate him like that. Might just need further study."

"It kinda scares me though."

Johnny squeezed him into a hug, and Ten felt better for a few moments. Still, his heart was beating fiercely against his rib cage. He had the sudden urge to run, very far away, and never return to the house or see the others again.

"Are you close to him? Lee Taeyong?"

Ten shuddered. He hadn't even been thinking about Taeyong, but himself. "I guess I'm pretty close to him..."

Johnny looked at him kindly, and Ten wanted to confess what he was really thinking - that he was the one who could read the minds of the street cats, and he could see into Taeyong's memories, and he knew all the puzzles in the escape room without even studying.

"I have something I should tell you," he began slowly, and Johnny held his hand.

"What is it?"

"I slept with him." This admission surprised them both. Ten had meant to explain the situation with the dream of the swimming pool, but it came out suddenly. "I mean, it's not that I like him, it's just that I..."

Johnny let go of his hand.

"I see. That's okay..."

"No, no, that wasn't what I meant to say!"

"What did you mean to say? You slept with him, and-?"

"And, and... I can't explain it." He paused. "I'm sorry."

Johnny nodded. "Okay. But I think I asked you on this date with the wrong understanding..."

Ten felt his temper rise suddenly. "You call this a date? You just told me about how me and my friend could be 'deactivated' and stuck in a laboratory!"

The hurt and apologetic look on Johnny's face made Ten immediately regret his comment - although now it had been said, he could not take it back.

Johnny stood up and picked up his bag, looping it over his shoulder slowly. "I know what you're saying and I think you're right. It's probably not a good idea for us to hang out like this."

The thought of losing Johnny filled Ten with panic. Johnny had been his closest ally in this country, the friend who had taught him so much and soothed the pain of his loneliness. They were two outsiders who had found comfort in each other. Ten tried to shout an apology.

"No, no, no - I didn't mean it!"

"Of course you did. It's totally wrong of me to sit here and talk about you like you're my science project. You deserve something better, and someone who will treat you like a human being."

Ten knew he was defeated. With a crushing weight in his chest, he fell back in his chair and watched Johnny leave.

* * *

Ten had never been more reluctant to return to the house. He walked around the streets of Sinchon, slowly and aimlessly. He envied the dirty street cats who lived simple lives. Their heads were filled with nothing but food, and looking for a warm place to sleep.

A small grey cat curled its way around Ten's feet, mewling in sympathy with him.

"Are you going to cheer me up?" Ten asked it.

The cat pounced into the nearby rubbish, and retrieved a dead fish, which it laid at Ten's feet. Ten laughed, because he knew how much the cat pitied him.

* * *

It was midnight when Ten returned to his room. Taeyong was still awake. He was lying in bed, but Ten could see the small glimmer of moonlight reflecting in his open eyes.

"Did you have a nice date?" Taeyong asked in a dry voice.

Ten had a vision of putting both hands around Taeyong's neck and choking him until he begged for mercy. A chill ran down Ten's spine. It filled him with both excitement and fear, but Ten was not a violent person. When the moment passed, he returned to undressing himself, and he threw his shirt to the ground with contemptuous carelessness, knowing that Taeyong hated mess in the room.

Somehow everything was Taeyong's fault - his fight with Johnny, the cats, the Company. Ten trembled with anger.

"You're a bully and I hate you!" he spat. He said it in Thai for some reason. Taeyong sat up slowly and stared at him, and Ten realised that Taeyong had understood him - in the same supernatural way the cats understood him. He continued, "you read my mind. The Company wants to take you away for that."

Taeyong replied without emotion. "I don't care. In any case, if they take me, they'll have to take you too."

Ten dropped down to sit on the floor, against the bed. He pulled his knees up to his face. "You shouldn't have guessed all those puzzles today. You were only doing it to make Doyoung jealous."

"So what if I was?"

"It's dumb. The Company will take you back to the lab."

"So what? They're going to anyway. What did you really expect our future to be?"

Ten buried his face further into his knees. If he concentrated, he could see everything that was inside of Taeyong's head - his fear, his anger, his loneliness. He was so full of nightmares. Ten started to cry.

Before he could look up, Taeyong was at his side. He pressed his forehead to Ten's, and Ten calmed down quickly.

_Be quiet. Don't be scared. I won't let them take you._


	10. Swimming Pool

A day later, Teacher announced that there would be another test.

"It's nothing to worry about," he said, noting the extremely worried look in Doyoung's eye. "It's simply a physical test, to check that the physical side of things is up to standard. A number of company staff will be present to check on things, but don't be intimidated."

They were taken to a nearby recreation centre. "There will be a number of activities," Teacher explained as they made their way to the entrance. "The first is a swimming course."

"Swimming course?!"

Teacher turned around suddenly to see Taeyong, who had made this outburst.

"Yes. It won't be difficult."

"We never trained in swimming."

"But it's not so much about technique or speed, just general fitness and coordination." He added, somewhat apologetically, "the Company specifically requested it to me only last week. I would have trained you otherwise."

Taeyong had turned a greenish shade. Both Ten and Doyoung noticed it. As they walked into the swimming centre, Ten took Taeyong by the arm, who was now shaking. "Don't worry," he whispered. "It's a lap pool, not a diving pool. It's not deep. No one will push you."

Doyoung who was following closely behind, gave Ten a thoughtful look, but then looked away.

The swimming pool was fairly small, a simple lap pool, as Ten had promised. On one side, three people wearing white coats were seated, with notepads. Ten had to admit they looked somewhat intimidating, despite Teacher's carefully chosen words of assurance.

They changed into shorts and t-shirts and lined up by the side of the pool. Taeyong was not looking any better - he seemed even more sickly and pale as he stared blankly into the pool. To make things worse, one of the scientists called his name and asked him to go first.

"Swim to the other end, any stroke," she said, then added, "it's just 25m."

Taeyong did not move. He was crouched down as if about to dive, but his hands were held clenched against the tiles.

The scientist asked him to start again. He did not move.

"I will ask one more time, please start."

Taeyong remained crouched at the side of the pool, but his hands were shaking so much he had lost his grip on the tiles. Ten was looking nervously back and forth between him and the scientists. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Doyoung stick his foot out, and then Taeyong entered the water with a loud splash.

The terror that ran through Taeyong moved in Ten too. Without thinking, he jumped into the pool after him, and pulled Taeyong up to the surface. Taeyong fought about wildly, but calmed down as Ten continued to hold his head above the water.

The scientists were now all standing up, and watching with interest, and one was writing in his notebook. Jonghyun looked upset. He said to them, "ah, you know that he drowned... why did you ask this?"

The scientist who spoke before said to Jonghyun: "You should take them both away."

Jonghyun nodded, and helped Ten pull Taeyong out of the pool.

"Are we in trouble?" Ten asked him quietly.

"No, it's not like that. Just go to the change room and get dry. I'll speak to you soon."

Taeyong was silent as Ten walked with him to the change room. Once they were alone, he said quietly, "thank you."

"It's okay. I know how you felt."

Taeyong sat down on the bench. His wet hair was pulled down over his eyes, and he seemed to be shaking, but now not from the cold. Ten put a towel around his shoulders and then sat beside him.

"I know you've seen what happened," Taeyong said. "So you know the worst part, right? There were so many people there that day. Not one single person jumped in when I wasn't able to get up. They all just stood there... and watched me drown." He had to stop talking because he was shaking so much. Ten put a hand on his side.

* * *

"That was dirty of you Doyoung!" Jaehyun whispered darkly as they rounded up together. "I saw what you did."

Doyoung stared at the ground, pretending not to have heard him. One of the scientists came over to speak with them. She was wearing a white jacket, and her hair was tied back in a loose bun. She walked with a gentle and graceful step. Somehow she gave the impression of a kind auntie.

"I have a few questions about your friends, do you mind assisting me?" She watched Doyoung in particular, whose eyes were still fixed on the ground. "I'm not a scary person. I won't make you say anything, but I am wondering about some of the things you might have noticed. Strange things."

Doyoung was still not moving. Jaehyun and Taeil looked nervously between each other.

"I heard Taeyong did well at the puzzles in your test the other day."

Blushing, Jaehyun mumbled, "Doyoung thought he was cheating."

The scientist smiled. "That's very interesting. Thank you." She paused for a moment, watching as they stood before her like guilty children. "What about the other one? The one from Thailand?"

"He's not weird," Doyoung said.

"Did he do well at the puzzles too?"

"Yes..."

"You haven't noticed any strange behaviour?"

She watched Taeil in particular, who was fidgeting with his hands. She knew he knew something.

As a matter of fact, Taeil knew a few things. One morning he had gone into their room early to wake them up and he had seen them sleeping together in the same bed. He chose not to wake them, and left the room quietly with no intention of ever revealing this discovery. He noticed a few odd things about the pair over the months they had lived together, but he kept them to himself. Taeil was not particularly inclined towards gossip. But now the scientist was watching him closely - and Taeil could tell that she wasn't just a company employee, from the way their teacher bowed his head in her presence.

"I once saw Ten talking to rats," he admitted, and she nodded.

"That's interesting, thank you."

"Will you tell the CEO?" Doyoung said suddenly.

She gave him a sympathetic smile. "Don't be so worried. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to your friends."

Doyoung quickly realised what Taeil had already figured out. He nodded submissively. "Yes, I understand."

"I will talk to them now. Ah, Doyoung... since I am a woman, it would be best if you could go and check on them first."

Doyoung bowed and then walked there quickly.

He closed the door quietly, and tiptoed into the change room, where Ten and Taeyong were sitting in the same position they had been in for several minutes. Their heads were pressed against each other, eyes closed, and they were not speaking. To Doyoung, they did look as though they had some kind of strange telepathy, and it gave him shivers.

"Hey," he said quietly. "The CEO wants to talk to you two."

They broke apart and Ten looked at him with wide eyes. "Is that it?"

Doyoung lowered his eyes. "I don't know what they are going to do, but they were asking if you guys did weird things. I want to warn you that--"

"It's okay," Taeyong said coldly.

Doyoung noddly slowly. The look of guilt and shyness was painted all over him. If he had acted on revenge, he did not look as though he had enjoyed it at all. Indeed, revenge was not something that suited Doyoung.

"It's okay," Ten repeated. "You might as well let them in."

"Okay, I will. By the way, when she asked us about whether you two were weird, we didn't tell her..." With that, he left quickly.

Ten and Taeyong waited alone together for another minute. There was complete silence between them, but the fear was now gone, as if the fear of drowning in the swimming pool and the fear of the Company had cancelled each other out.

The CEO came in quietly, and bowed when she saw them.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked. "My name is Seo Hyun."

They did not answer her. She moved closer to them. She had a soft face, that was not threatening or mean at all.

"This is the first time that I'm meeting you like this," she said. "I've seen you both before, but not when you were conscious. It might sound strange, but having worked directly on both of you, so I care about how you are, and I am interested in how you are coping with life."

"Don't look so frightened," she said softly as she sat next to Ten, who automatically shifted away from her. "You are not in trouble. It was quite brave of you to jump into the pool like that, to help your friend. I am glad that we picked you. I remember reading about your school - it was an international school in Bangkok, is that right? Your classmates made 1000 paper cranes when you fell sick, to protect you from dying. So many people loved you..."

Ten's chest tightened. The memory of his old school and friends was chilling; it really did feel like something from another life, and now even the hated hospital room seemed more welcoming than this foreign country, and this strange lady.

She was quiet, lost in thought. And then, she said suddenly: "I don't regret choosing you either, Taeyong - even though you were the hardest one. Your body was the most damaged, that is to say; you were virtually brain dead by the time we operated on you. It's funny... I remember your mother insisted on keeping you on life support even after the doctors told her you wouldn't recover, which was lucky in hindsight. To tell you the truth, I decided to choose you against the advice of my colleagues, who said that you lacked credentials. That didn't bother me. When I made up my mind, I stuck to it. I had received a letter out of the blue one day, from a university freshman. He wrote in his letter that he had gone to the same high school as you, and that he was the victim of your bullying... It was an interesting letter, I suppose he had a talented way with words. In any case, he explained that you had drowned after being pushed from a diving board and he begged me to consider saving you. I think he was regretful at the thought of you dying before he squared it with you first. For what it's worth, I decided to save you not for his sake, but for yours. I wanted to see how you would turn out if you were given a second chance at life."

She stopped at this point, since Taeyong was crying. His weeping was silent, but he wasn't able to hide the tears that were falling fast down his face, vainly kept back by his shaking hands. Ten watched him with some difficultly, placing a hand firmly on his back.

Seo Hyun stood up. "I guess you already know the reason why I came today. You two seem to have developed some side effects from the operation, a kind of telekinesis? Since we had been running this project for the first time, we came up against some unexpected consequences. To be honest, I had partly expected this from my research. In fact, I suspect the other three also have this power, but they have not been able to control it like you two have. In any case, it will be necessary for you to come back to the lab so we can do some further research. That could mean you are going to be operated on again, but I assure you that you will be brought back to normal within reasonable time."

Ten looked between her and his crying friend. "Do we have to go?" he asked. "What if we don't want to go?"

Seo Hyun smiled slightly, and looked vaguely at a point near the window. "Ah, you should really know by now. You have no choice in this at all..."


	11. Second Life

_Some time later_

When Ten woke up it was cold. In the outside world winter had crept it - unbeknownst to Ten, who was living in an artificial world, but now a violent chill ran through him as he realised the window had been left open. He had opened it himself the previous night, in a small act of rebellion and a wish for fresh air. Now he jumped up to shut it quickly, and peering through the crack of light between the buildings he could see the sky was as grey as steel.

His room in the Company lab was even worse than his old hospital room. Here he was completely alone, since he had been kept separate from Taeyong. The scientists explained that their minds had become too entangled, and it would be best if they were kept apart, at least for the time being. Ten would still dream about him now and then, but these dreams were more disturbing than comforting, and he would wake up alone and feeling even more isolated than before.

Just as he closed the window he heard a rap at the door. His heart flipped in his chest as the door clicked open, and a scientist in a white coat came into the room. Ten hated having to meet with the scientists, but as soon as the man walked in Ten recognised the friendly, heart-shaped face. The sudden excitement warmed him to his feet.

"This is the best looking scientist I've seen for a while," he said sarcastically, not really wanting to reveal just how happy he was to see Johnny. "Have you come to do some experiments on me?"

Johnny chuckled good-naturedly. "No, of course not. Seriously, I'm way too junior to be allowed to do any actual science. I actually just came to hang out with you."

Ten narrowed his eyes. "Really? They let you do that?"

"Well, I had to beg them a bit. When I found out you were here I could just imagine how crazy bored you must be, so I... let's say I volunteered to cure you of boredom."

He laughed, so Ten smiled too.

"You're right. I've been going nuts. You must have read my mind."

"Nope, no mind reading necessary! I just know what you're like."

"You were thinking of me."

"Yeah, I'm always thinking of you." He came over to hold Ten's hand. "Hul, your hands are so cold!"

Ten watched as Johnny wrapped his large hands around Ten's small ones. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the gesture, and he pulled Johnny into a tight hug, face pressed against his collar. Beneath the laundry-detergent smell of the jacket, Ten could smell Johnny's old familiar scent and it was so wonderful. He could hear Johnny's heart beating softly, as he pressed his face even harder.

"What do you want to do today?" Johnny asked softly, his voice gently reverberating against Ten's cheek.

"Can I to go outside?"

"Yep, I got them to allow it for today. I don't know if you'd want to go outside though, it's pretty cold now."

"I don't care, let's go outside."

As per Ten's wish, Johnny took him outside of the company building. Little wisps of snow were falling around them, and clinging to the branches of the trees like crystals. Ten looked around in wonder, but the cold was achingly brutal.

"Wow, you're right, it is cold!"

Johnny put his arm around Ten. "You didn't bring enough clothes."

"Hey, I'm new here. It never gets this cold in Thailand."

They walked to the end of the street, Johnny with his arm around Ten. "We can go to my place, if you want. It's not very interesting, but it's warm."

Johnny's house actually seemed like a very interesting place to Ten. "Definitely. Let's go."

Johnny took Ten to a plain looking apartment building, in which his apartment was on the 20th floor. It was a small, single room apartment, with nothing but a bed and a small table.

Johnny apologised again. "I'm sorry it's so boring."

"No, it's amazing." Ten took off his shoes, and tip toed around the room in his socks.

Johnny took out his computer so they could play games. They sat side by side on the bed, touching knees. Every so often Ten would lose interest in the game, and return to watching Johnny, leaning up against him and rubbing his face into his shoulder. "I really like you," he mumbled sleepily, after they had been together for most of the day.

They lay down beside each other on the bed, and Ten gazed dreamily at the specks of snow floating past the window, against the dull afternoon light. Johnny's warm and heavy body beside him felt so perfect. It's perfect just like this, he thought, not speaking, not touching, just being.

Johnny turned to face him and Ten smiled.

Touching Ten's cheek with his hand, he said, "I love the way you smile. It's like... every atom in your body is charged with happiness!"

* * *

Taeyong felt an odd sensation in his chest. His heart rate increased, and he was filled with a sudden passion and excitement. He jumped up from where he had been sitting crossed legged on the floor, drawing in his notebook, and staggered across the room gasping. Once the strange feeling had passed, he cursed.

"Damn Ten," he thought miserably. It was still happening, the exchange of emotions, although it was less frequent these days. It had been comforting at times, but now he felt empty since the happiness had passed. It was never _his_ happiness; that was the problem with sharing someone's mind, it could only ever be half yours.

Taeyong had been alone for most of the day, which he didn't particularly mind, since he liked solitude. After this strange shock however, he felt like seeing someone. He was jealous, perhaps.

Not long after, his wish was granted. There was a knock at the door and one of the staff came in to tell him he had a visitor.

"One of your friends has come to visit you."

 _Friends?_ Taeyong thought wildly. For a second he had no idea who that could possibly mean. When the so-called friend finally came through the door, his heart fell.

"Oh, it's you," he said moodily.

"Don't look so happy to see me," Doyoung replied sarcastically, as he pulled a bag off his shoulder. The bag was shaped like a small guitar.

"Oh, no! It's gets worse!"

Doyoung chuckled as he took the ukulele out from the bag. "I thought you might want a bit of entertainment."

"Entertainment? More like _torture._ Did you come here just to torture me?"

Doyoung had a big smile on his face. He's really enjoying this, he thought, and then in the back of his mind he thought, _I'm kind of enjoying it too._

"Do you have any requests?"

"Yes. Silence."

"I'll play you something Christmassy..."

Doyoung struck a few chords on the ukulele and started singing, in a deep and level voice. To Taeyong's surprise, he was not a bad singer. He was careful not to say anything though - he didn't want Doyoung's already enormous head to get any bigger.

When Doyoung was finished, he said, "interesting. I thought you hated the idea of entertainment."

"I don't hate music," Doyoung replied softly.

"You just hate the life that goes with entertainment, is that it? Because of your brother."

Doyoung looked at him with narrowed eyes. "What have you heard about my brother?"

"Nothing. I don't even know who he is. I can just tell from you, there's something about him that you are ashamed of."

Doyoung paused thoughtfully. "It's hard to explain. There was some embarrassment from my family. He dropped out of school and started to pursue this acting career and everyone was against it. He told us he would prove us wrong, and he would be someone we could be proud of. My parents were already so stressed because I was sick, so I was mad at him." He paused. "Anyway, I was made to believe that the reason I was chosen by the Company was that I was a smart student, and I had a lot skills. But I found out later... it was because of my brother. Apparently someone who worked here was a fan of his movies. That was the only reason." He looked down at the ukulele and plucked one of the strings absentmindedly. "I didn't know how to feel."

Taeyong watched Doyoung with amazement. He never thought Doyoung of people would say something like this; admitting that his vanity was hurt, and he had been humbled by the brother he had always looked down on.

After a while, the sight of Doyoung, quiet and contemplative, was uncomfortable for him. "Really though. What are you doing here? You didn't just come to sing."

"No, of course not." Doyoung looked up, and smiled briefly. "I really just came to visit. I know you don't like me, and to be honest, I don't like you either. If we were normal people we would be complete opposites in everything. But in reality we're stuck in the same boat, we're both stuck with the Company, with this half life..."

"It's not a half life, it's a second life."

Taeyong wasn't even sure why he'd said that. Doyoung laughed softly, and said, "yeah, you're right."

Just at the point where Taeyong and Doyoung were in danger of actually becoming friends, the door burst open and Jaehyun and Taeil came tumbling in, looking pink in the cheeks from the snow and the cold. Taeyong could not deny it - he was very pleased to see them, and even moved by the thought of them all coming to visit him.

That sudden thought was dashed by Taeil asking, "where is Ten? We wanted to see him but the staff told us he had gone out today."

"He seduced one of the scientists so he gets to go out for Christmas."

Doyoung gave a crooked smile. "Ten, seduced someone? I doubt it, he's so innocent."

"You don't know anything."

"We brought you a Christmas present, anyway," Jaehyun said cheerfully and threw Taeyong a small package. He unwrapped it immediately to see that it was a can of air freshener. When he looked up he saw they were all laughing.

"We missed you Taebreze," Doyoung said, and his expression was sincere.

"Without you the house doesn't smell as nice," Jaehyun admitted. "And the kitchen is a mess."

Taeyong looked down at the can, and then he smiled too. "I'll bet it is..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a fic back in 2012 called Visual Dreams, which had Jonghyun and Seohyun as young scientists building androids. Looking back it was a messy fic, but for some reason it's always been my favourite, so I wanted to write another fic in that universe. This is set about ten years after that one (which explains why Jonghyun and Seohyun are a bit "older" in this story). I also intend to write more stories, since it would make sense to have a story where they actually use their powers to do stuff lol...  
> Thank you to all you guys who left comments on the chapters, they were really fun and interesting to read. Also thanks to exoprimordium mod who ran the Primordium challenge :) Lastly please talk to me on twitter @HoshaTree


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